US Weather Forecast: Major Winter Storms To Hit Lower 48 States This Week [NWS]

Major winter storms are set to impact the Lower 48 states this week, bringing potential winter weather hazards such as heavy snow and blizzard conditions from the West Coast to the East Coast of the United States. This is according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in its recent US weather forecast on Monday, January 8.

The major winter storm alert highlights the continued winter season in the US and across North America. The season, which started in December, is expected to continue until February or early March. In previous years, the winter weather atmosphere across the country were accompanied by lake effect snow, heavy rain, and severe thunderstorms.

US Weather Forecast

In its short-range US weather forecast on Monday, the NWS' Weather Prediction Center (WPC) warned about the looming threat posed by major winter storms across the Lower 48 states this week. Related hazards include blizzard conditions for the Great Plains and Midwest regions.

In addition, strong to damaging winds, severe thunderstorms, and heavy rain from the South to the Northeast US are expected by WPC meteorologists until Tuesday, January 9. A separate weather system is also projected to bring heavy precipitation across the Pacific Northwest through Wednesday, January 10, according to the weather service.

Meanwhile, the WPC also mentioned a lingering cold front carrying heavy rain for Hawaii this week. Since disruptions are expected in the coming days, heavy precipitation associated with the significant winter storms can lead to dangerous travel conditions (both air and land).

Major Winter Storms

The major winter storms will involve two systems with one that is expected to impact most part of the country and the other to be focusing on dumping several feet of snow to the Washington and Oregon Cascades. Still, the NWS warned that the buildup of several feet of snow, which can accumulate in an hour, may lead to hazardous travel.

The US weather agency says that the short-range forecast is valid until Wednesday. However, this weather outlook can still be updated or be changed throughout the rest of the week, potentially affecting a large portion of the country.

In December 2023, winter weather advisories and alerts affected millions of Americans and saw the snarling of travel that includes delayed flights.

US Climate Outlook for January 2024

On January 3, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its US Climate Outlook report for January 2024, which will see wetter-than-normal conditions in some parts of the country, especially the Southeast US. This comes after temperatures in December averaged above normal from coast to coast.

Now for this month, the NOAA (which also utilized data from the NWS) projects above-normal temperatures across the Northeast and around the Great Lakes. Meanwhile, there will be below-average temperatures across the Southwest US and central-northern Great Plains.

There will also be above-average precipitation for large areas of the southern, central, and eastern parts of the country.